1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a terminal to be pressed into a connector housing, to a connector and to a mounting method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-251993 discloses a connector terminal with a plurality of press-in sections formed on each of the side surfaces thereof along a pressing direction. The terminal can be fixed by pressing these press-in sections into a connector housing.
A holding force of the terminal pressed into the housing can be increased by increasing the number of the press-in sections. However, even if many press-in sections are formed on each side surface of the terminal along the pressing direction, a sufficient holding force cannot be ensured for the press-in sections pressed later due to the scrape of the housing caused by the press-in section of the press-in section pressed before. Thus, the holding force is not enhanced very much. The widths of the press-in sections pressed in later must be larger than the widths of the press-in sections pressed in before to improve the holding forces of the press-in sections to be pressed into later. However, the terminal becomes larger if too many press-in sections are formed on each side surface along the pressing direction. Further, it is difficult to form many press-in sections on each side surface of the terminal due to restrictions on the dimensions of press-in portion along the press-in direction.
An increased number of press-in sections can increase the holding force of a terminal pressed into the housing. However, a narrow terminal with a plurality of press-in sections may not be sufficiently strong. The terminal or the housing may be engaged with a lock. However, it is difficult to form a narrow terminal with a lock for engaging the housing. It is also difficult to form a narrow terminal with an engaging hole to be engaged by a lock of the housing.
Furthermore, it becomes more difficult to press the terminal into the housing because a larger force is required to insert a terminal that has a large number of press-in sections.
The invention was developed in view of the above problems and an object thereof is to provide a connector terminal that can be held in a housing with a large holding force and preferably having a small size and a light weight.